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Neville Marriner

Mozart: Serenades & Divertimenti (2CD)

During the 18th century, it was common for noblemen to employ numbers of musicians to entertain themselves and their guests, and to add dignity and colour to occasions of Church and State. Music was frequently written to form a pleasant background to dinners and parties. Serious or complex music would clearly have been inappropriate for gatherings of this kind; it was the task of the composer to amuse the guests without overstepping his function and distracting them from the more important business of eating, drinking and making merry.


Neville Marriner and the Academy of St. Martin in the Fields’ recording of Mozart’s most popular serenade – the ubiquitous Eine kleine Nachtmusik – made for Argo in 1970 has never been out of the catalogue, but the other works on this compilation, equally compelling, magically performed, have not, as often, seen the light of day on CD.

MOZART
CD 1
1- 3 Concertone in C major for two violins, oboe and cello, KV 190 (KV 186e)
Iona Brown & Carmel Kaine, violins
Tess Miller, oboe
Kenneth Heath, cello

4-6 Serenata notturna in D major, KV 239 12’38
7-9 Divertimento in D major, KV 136 (KV 125a) 13’19
10-12 Divertimento in B flat, KV 137 (KV 125b)
13-15 Divertimento in F major, KV 138 (KV 125c)

CD 2
1-4 Serenade in G major, KV 525 ‘Eine kleine Nachtmusik’
5-10 Divertimento in D major, KV 334 (KV 320b)
11-13 Notturno in D major, KV 286 (KV 269a)

Academy of St. Martin in the Fields
Neville Marriner